The Sandbox
by Stolen Insight
Summary: Oneshot ft. Sakura about how she remembers her encounter with Gaara as children playing in a small sandbox. If you want me to develop it in a real story rather than an OS, feel free to tell me so, but I’ll need ideas.


**A/N:** Haha, wow. It's been maybe 3-4 years since I've written a fanfic. Don't be too harsh with my writing, yeah? I'm a bit rusty.

**Summary: **One-shot ft. Sakura about how she remembers her encounter with Gaara as children playing in a small sandbox. If you want me to develop it in a real story rather than an OS, feel free to tell me so, but I'll need ideas.

**The Sandbox**

Sakura's POV

I began walking towards the primary school that morning though I felt as if anchors were bound to my ankles. Each step I took was so heavy and misery filled. Did I really not enjoy children that much? I guess one would believe so after dealing with Konohamaru's antics one too many times.

Tsunade-sama wouldn't admire acknowledging my late presence, but I figured I would just drop down onto my knees and beg for her forgiveness; surely she'd let me off the hook that way. When I was first assigned to such a pitiful D-rank mission of assisting the teachers at the primary school, I couldn't help but wonder why Tsunade-sama had to assign me something so unpleasant, so non-amusing, so…. _lame._ After all, she **did** know of my dislike of tending to children.

I merely sighed as I walked into town and managed to pull fake smiles towards market and restaurant owners that I passed by. The breeze then turned into a small, rolling wind as I tightened my forehead protector, which I really used as a headband anyway.

The primary school began growing in my vision – such a dread. I opened the gate steadily by the leaf-shaped knobs and took awkward steps to the door, always hesitating before the next step. I could only manage to fit half a foot on a single one of them; clearly this place really was designed for menacing tykes – everything seemed so small.

However, before I could even knock on the door, someone beat me to it and the door swung widely open. I put my hands up to prevent the door from creating contact with my face and an annoying eruption of sound flooded my ears. However, it wasn't just any sound. No, it was _that_ sound.

A wave of children swam out the door and into the play area.

"REEECCCEEESSSS!" they all cried.

I sweat-dropped and sighed but at the same time, I couldn't help but grin. This scene looked all too familiar to me. I remember being portrayed as the quiet girl with almost no self-confidence. Hah. I was even good friends with Ino, back then. The memory still existed in my mind, though I thought I had released it years ago. Then again, there was a reason why I was never fully able to, and the reason was _him_.

As the last child left through the door, I strolled inside and was greeted by an elderly woman.

"Ohayo, Sakura." The old lady stood with the help of a small cane. "Tsunade sent you here, correct?"

"Hai. Please let me know any way I can be of assistance today! It's an honor being able to help with the village's future generation!"

**Wow, I'm so good at being fake…**

"Oh, Sakura. I know you don't mean that."

… **or not.**

"Oh, n-no, I-I mean…"

"It's okay. I understand you'd rather be at the hospital – you're a medical ninja after all, not a caretaker."

I bowed my head in embarrassment.

"Just help me with small tasks I ask of you and you can leave as quickly as possible."

"Oh, alright. I'm very sorry."

"Please, don't be."

Through the duration of the day, I had to deal with gathering children to come inside to take their naps. Sadly, I even had to use chakra strings just to draw them in. How pathetic am I? Snack time was rather easy though. Everyone lined up immediately mainly because they just wanted their daily dosage of sugar. I directed them to eat on the bench outside and let out a sigh once more and wiped the sweat away from my head. Children can be such a handful, at times. I watched the kids slowly chew away at their food and took note of all of them smiling together and exchanging stories of monsters and being a hero. I chuckled and studied the play area.

**Hmmm. A swing, a slide, a see-saw, and oh! – a sandbox.**

I sauntered over and sat inside. Of course, I was much bigger than I used to be and ended up taking almost all the space. I laughed at how much I've changed and grown. I slipped my gloves off and felt the sand sift between my fingers. I haven't sat in sand for almost 10 years. It gave me such a smooth and rough feeling at the same time – I loved it. And that's when I began thinking about _him_ again.

FLASHBACK

"Sa-ku-ra chan!" A little boy called out. He had messy red hair and a wide smile adorned with the symbol of love plastered on his forehead. He was beckoning a petite bubblegum haired girl to come see him.

"_Gaara-kun, what is it?" She was holding a small flower in her tiny hand and gave him a look of confusion._

"_Look what I made! It's in the sandbox!"_

"_Okay!" She hurriedly scurried over and widened her eyes. Before her, was probably the prettiest sandcastle she ever laid eyes on. "Gaara-kun, it's so pretty!"_

_Gaara blushed and looked down. "It was supposed to be bigger… but there wasn't enough sand."_

"_I still think it's very pretty," The small girl chuckled. "Why did you want me to see it so badly though?"_

"_Umm…"_

"_Gaara-kun, you can tell me!"_

"_I want the two of us to live in a place like this someday. Just the two of us. I don't need anyone else…"_

_Of course, Sakura didn't really see the message. "I would __**love**__ to live in a place like that!" She yelled. "But it's missing something…"_

"_Nani?"_

_Sakura took the flower she was holding and stuck it at the top. "Now it's done!"_

_Gaara and the jade-eyed soon-to-be medical ninja laughed._

"_Will I see you tomorrow, Gaara-kun?"_

"_Of course."_

"_Bye-bye then!" He vanished into a cloud of sand and drifted away._

END FLASHBACK

"Oh, Gaara. I miss you." Sakura mused to herself out loud. But what she really meant to say was, **"I love you."**

A/N: Yea, yea. I could have done better. Like I said – it's been 3-4 years since I've produced a story. Don't tug on my leash too much about it.


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